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17 
Mustard grown for seed flowers from June to August. The honey 
is somewhat acrid and crystallizes soon, yet the plant, where abundant, 
is of much importance to the bees and the bee keeper in case other for- 
age is scant at the time. 
Asparagus blossoms are much visited by bees in June and July. 
Esparcet, or sainfoin, yields in May and June fine honey, almost as 
clear as spring water. Itis a perennial leguminous plant, rather hardy, 
an excellent forage crop, and particularly valuable for milch cows. It 
succeeds best on a limestone soil or when lime is used as a fertilizer, 
and. is itself an excellent green manure for soils deficient in nitrogen 
and phosphoric acid. 
Serradella is an annual leguminous plant which will grow on sandy 
land, and which yields, besides good forage, clear honey of good quality 
in June and July. , 
Chestnut, valuable tor timber, ornament, shade, and nuts, yields 
honey and pollen in June or July. 
Linden, sourwood, and catalpa are fine shade, ornamental, and timber 
trees, which yield great quantities of first quality honey in June and 
July. 
Cotton.—In the South cotton blossoms, appearing as they do in sue- 
cession during the whole summer, often yield considerable honey. It 
would appear, however, that when the plants are very rank in growth 
the blossoms—being correspondingly large—are too deep for the bees 
to reach the nectar. 
Chicory, raised for salad and for its roots, is, whenever permitted to 
blossom, eagerly visited for honey in July and August. 
Pot herbs, when allowed to blossom, nearly all yield honey in June, 
July, or August. Where fields of them are grown for the seed, the 
honey yield may be considerable from this source. 
Alfalfa furnishes in the West a large amount of very fine honey dur- 
ing June and July. Its importance as a forage crop there is well known, 
but how far eastward its cultivation may be profitably extended is still 
a question, and even should it prove of value in the East as a forage 
plant it is still uncertain what its honey-producing qualities would be 
there. 
Parsnips when left for seed blossom freely from June to August, inelu- 
sive, and are much frequented by honey bees. 
Peppermint, raised for its foliage, from which oil is distilled, is most 
frequently cut before the bees derive much benefit from it, but when- 
ever allowed to blossom it is eagerly sought after by them, and yields 
honey freely during July and August. 
Bokhara, or sweet clover, is in some sections of the country considered 
a valuable forage crop. Animalscan be taught to like it, and it is very 
valuable as a restorer of exhausted lime soils, while in regions lacking 
in bee pasturage during the summer months it is a very important 
addition. It withstands drouth remarkably well and yields a large 
«quantity of fine honey. 
4418—No, 59 
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